Empirical Assessment of Environmental and Health Risks in Intensive Poultry Production in Kwara State, Nigeria

The study was designed to assess the environmental and health risks arising from intensive poultry production in Kwara State, Nigeria. A total of 120 poultry farmers in Kwara State under the Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN) were selected randomly for the study, and structured questionnaires were administered. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi-square test, and the linear regression. The study revealed that about 79.5% of the poultry farmers were literate, having completed at least a tertiary educational level. In addition, the results showed that the environmental and health issues were significant during production and processing. It was further revealed that the type of battery cage used and educational level of the farmers were positively significant, while the year of establishment was negatively significant when it comes to the adoption practices. This implies that the higher the level of education, the more likely farmers adopt improved practices. Moreover, it was observed that the majority of the poultry farmers do not abide by the environmental and public health laws and regulations; therefore, it is recommended that government should enforce strict supervisory agencies of the sanitation/health policies aiming at environmental preservation and protection

Economics of Quail Production in Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria

This study assesses the economics of quail production in Ilorin, Kwara state. Structured questionnaires were used to elicit information from 56 farmers that were selected with the use of a snow-ball sampling technique. Major tools of analysis for the study included descriptive statistic, gross margin analysis, Stochastic Production Frontier Model and 4 points Likert-type. The results of the findings revealed that both male and female are actively involved in the production i.e. 54.7% and 45.3% respectively with about 83% of the respondents in their active age range of 31-50 years and 66% have tertiary education. Also, results from the gross margin analysis show that an average farmer incurred a sum of ₦212,850 on variable costs with feed carrying the highest percentage (73%) and had an average net profit of ₦172,830. Feed, stock size, experience and farmer’s educational level are statistically significant to the production efficiency at different levels of probability as shown by the stochastic frontier result and farmers have a mean technical efficiency of 60.53%. The research therefore recommended that efforts should be made to reduce production cost through reduction in feed cost via establishment of more feed mills which are to be monitored by the Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON) to maintain standard.Â

Economics of Quail Production in Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria

This study assesses the economics of quail production in Ilorin, Kwara state. Structured questionnaires were used to elicit information from 56 farmers that were selected with the use of a snow-ball sampling technique. Major tools of analysis for the study included descriptive statistic, gross margin analysis, Stochastic Production Frontier Model and 4 points Likert-type. The results of the findings revealed that both male and female are actively involved in the production i.e. 54.7% and 45.3% respectively with about 83% of the respondents in their active age range of 31-50 years and 66% have tertiary education. Also, results from the gross margin analysis show that an average farmer incurred a sum of ₦212,850 on variable costs with feed carrying the highest percentage (73%) and had an average net profit of ₦172,830. Feed, stock size, experience and farmer’s educational level are statistically significant to the production efficiency at different levels of probability as shown by the stochastic frontier result and farmers have a mean technical efficiency of 60.53%. The research therefore recommended that efforts should be made to reduce production cost through reduction in feed cost via establishment of more feed mills which are to be monitored by the Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON) to maintain standard.Â

Energy Consumption of Rural Farming Households in Kwara State, Nigeria

The main objective of this study was to understand the rural energy consumption of the farming households. The data used for the study were obtained through a four-stage sampling procedure which resulted in a sample size of 120 households. Logistic regression procedure was used to determine the energy consumption pattern and the factors affecting the use. The relationships between the type of energy (modern or traditional) consumed by the household and educational status, household size, age, total monthly income, total amount spent on food per month and distance travelled per week to obtain fuel were established. The regression result showed that age of the household heads and distance travelled to obtain fuel was significant in explaining the variation in the type of energy consumed. Observed energy consumption pattern revealed that most of the respondents consumed more of traditional than the modern energy types. The study suggests that in order to reduce stress and health hazards associated with the traditional energy source, modern energy consumption should be encouraged among the rural households in order that they might reduce the stress and hazards encountered in obtaining and using the traditional energy and also, to reduce the exploitation of forest resources for traditional fuel

Agribusiness Firms and Rural Dairy Development. A Case of FrieslandCampina Dairy Development Programme in Nigeria

Rural development interventions funded by private agribusiness firms may positively or negatively affect rural farmers' welfare. A positive effect is that such interventions may provide farmers with market access. The negative effect could be that such firms may be solely motivated by profit and may exploit the farmers. In this paper, we explore the role of FrieslandCampina Dairy Development Programme, a multinational firm with headquarters in Europe, in improving the welfare of rural dairy farmers in Nigeria. We use a two-wave panel survey of 122 programme participants and 95 non-participants. We focus on two outcome measures – annual dairy income and daily milk yield - and use a pooled ordinary least squares method to understand the programme effect. We also explore the mechanism of effect by assessing the programme effects on farmers' sustainable dairy management practices using a negative binomial regression method. Our results suggest that the programme has positive welfare effects on farmers. We attribute these effects to farmers' access to reliable markets offered by the programme and the informal business arrangement between the farmers and the agribusiness firm. Potential policy implications include that governments should encourage other private agribusiness firms to set up similar development programmes

Empirical Assessment of Environmental and Health Risks in Intensive Poultry Production in Kwara State, Nigeria

The study was designed to assess the environmental and health risks arising from intensive poultry production in Kwara State, Nigeria. A total of 120 poultry farmers in Kwara State under the Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN) were selected randomly for the study, and structured questionnaires were administered. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi-square test, and the linear regression. The study revealed that about 79.5% of the poultry farmers were literate, having completed at least a tertiary educational level. In addition, the results showed that the environmental and health issues were significant during production and processing. It was further revealed that the type of battery cage used and educational level of the farmers were positively significant, while the year of establishment was negatively significant when it comes to the adoption practices. This implies that the higher the level of education, the more likely farmers adopt improved practices. Moreover, it was observed that the majority of the poultry farmers do not abide by the environmental and public health laws and regulations; therefore, it is recommended that government should enforce strict supervisory agencies of the sanitation/health policies aiming at environmental preservation and protection

Assessment of dry season garden egg production among small-scale farmers in Edu Local Government Area of Kwara State, Nigeria

The study was carried out for the purpose of assessing dry season garden egg production among small-scale farmers in Edu Local Government Area of Kwara State. The study adopted a snowballing sampling technique to sample 120 small-scale garden egg farmers. Five research questions were formulated to achieve the objectives of this research work. Descriptive statistics, cost and return analysis and OLS regression were used to analyze data collected. Cost and return analysis shows that the total revenue generated from the sales of irrigated garden egg produce for a typical farmer was N 36,596.5k while the total fixed cost (depreciated) and variable input cost amounted to 1,279.22K to give a net farm income (NFI) of N 24,582.68k. The OLS regression results revealed that the coefficients of farm size and household size were positive and significant at the 1% and 10% levels of probability respectively. This implies that an increase in farm size by 1 ha will increase the production of dry season garden egg by 1 percent. While the results of stochastic production frontier estimate show that the parameters of labour, fertilizer and farm size were highly significant, chemical use was significant at 10% level. This result implies that the farmers were technically efficient in the use of labour, fertilizer, chemical and farm size. Therefore, it is recommended that farmers should be encouraged to form cooperative societies, whereby they can join their resources together to provide a cost-effective irrigation system. Also, government authorities and other non-governmental organizations are encouraged to give farmers fertilizers and other chemicals at subsidized rates. There is a need for revitalization of the marketing board in Nigeria to further strengthen the marketing of agricultural produce and reduce marketing, storage and transportation problems

Gendered Effects of Crop Diversification and Climate Shocks on Household Food Security Status in Nigeria

This paper studies the impact of climate shocks and crop diversification on household food security in Nigeria by focusing on gender-disaggregated effects. We combine historical rainfall and temperature datasets with the World Bank’s Living Standards Measurement Study - Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA) for Nigeria. Furthermore, we use an adapted version of the crop diversification Weighted Shannon index (WSI) to measure crop diversification. The food security indicators adopted are the Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS), the reduced Coping Strategy Index (rCSI), and the per capita food expenditures. We use a set of panel and dynamic panel models for our analysis, and our results show that climate shocks have negative effects on food security, especially in households with men plot managers. However, we find that crop diversification is positively linked to food security. Our results show the need to target policies to encourage crop diversification in households and promote crop diversification components in women empowerment programs